Combined bridge,tailpiece and manual vibrato for guitars



, Jan. 28, 1969 N. I. DANIEL COMBINED BRIDGE, TAILPIECE AND MANUALVIBRATO FOR GUITARS Filed Aug. 9, 1967 ,1 I7 24 us /i FIG. 4

l6 INVENTOR BY J 64. b/2

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,424,049 COMBINED BRIDGE, TAILPIECE ANDMANUAL VIBRATO FOR GUITARS Nathan I. Daniel, Deal, N.J., assignor, bymesne assignments, to The Danelectro Corporation, Neptune City,

N.J., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 9, 1967, Ser. No. 659,369

US. Cl. 84-313 Int. Cl. Gd 3/04, 3/12 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Aguitar attachment having manual vibrato comprising a bridge section fora connection to the guitar surface and combined with an integraltailpiece connected to the bridge. The tailpiece is not connected to theguitar surface but is cantilevered and is therefore free forsubstantially vertical movement. A handhold bar is connected to one endof the tailpiece so that manual vibration of the handhold bar actuatesthe tailpiece and thus effectively lengthens and shortens the strings toproduce frequency vibrato by manual actuation of the bar.

This invention relates to a guitar vibrato and more particularly to acombined bridge and tailpiece attachment with a manually operatedvibrato bar connected to the tailpiece.

Manually operated vibrato bars are well known but they are complex inconstruction and often require excessive force which is mostobjectionable to the player.

I have solved this and other problems by a simplified structure whereina single strip of resilient metal is formed into a bridge section whichis connectable to the guitar surface. Integral with the bridge sectionis a tailpiece which extends freely rearwardly in cantilever fashion.The guitar strings of course extend over the bridge and are locked, asusual in the tailpiece. A handhold bar is connected to the tailpiece.Accordingly, when the handhold bar is manually vibrated, the stringsends are lifted or rocked, resulting in alternate shortening andlengthening of the strings to produce vibrato when the strings arestruck.

My invention will be further understood from the following descriptionand drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a guitar provided with the improvementof this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the structure of thisinvention;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged, substantially elevational view of the inventionas depicted in FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

The guitar body 10, neck 11, head 12, and pickups 13, are allconventional. The strings S are connected between the pegs 14 andtailpiece 15. Tailpiece 15 is integrally connected to the bridge as willnow be described.

Obviously the strings S must lie on a bridge, as is conventional. Iprovide a combination bridge and tailpiece of special construction. Thusthe combination structure comprises a flat, mounting or base strip 16which is fastened to the guitar top face as by screws 17. Asubstantially vertical wall 18 (which is in fact slightly rearwardlyinclined), integrally follows the base strip 16. Following wall 18 isthe arcuately formed tailpiece 15, said tailpiece being concavo alongits top surface so as not to contact 4 Claims "ice the strings alongsaid top surface as illustrated in FIG- URE 3.

The rear edge of tailpiece 15 is formed with an upward- 1y directed lip19 having a series of open ended cut-outs or slots 20 which receive theheaded ends 21 of the strings S. Such cut-outs or slots 20 are of courseconventional per se.

The combined base 16, wall 18, and tailpiece 15 are formed from a singlepiece of spring steel of an approximate thickness of .1 inch. Thejunction line of wall 18 and tailpiece 15 forms the highest line of thestructure and thereby provides the bridge 22. The strings S simply reston bridge 22 and are locked within the slots 20.

The cantilevered rear end of the combined bridge and tailpiece lendsitself to manipulation to provide manual vibrato, and to this objective,I provide the steel handhold bar 23 which is itself well known, but infar more complex, and relatively inefiicient environments.

Through a laterally disposed opening in cantilevered tailpiece 15, Iinsert a threaded bolt 24, which receives a complementary openingthrough end strip 25 of substantially S-shaped handhold member or bar23. A nut 26 firmly secures strip 25 to the tailpiece 15 so that thehandhold member 23 is firmly connected adjacent to the free end of thetailpiece or adjacent to the cut-out slots 20. The lateral dispositionof bar 23 actuates the higher frequency strings more than the otherstrings and produces a more discernible vibrato.

The production of vibrato will be evident. Briefly, the player willstrum or pluck the strings as usual in playing the instrument. From timeto time, as the player desires, he will grasp the handhold bar 23 andphysically vibrate it. This will cause the tailpiece 15 to rise and fallrelative to the bridge section 22. This will produce alternateshortening and lengthening of the strings S which will provide vibratoas long as the strings are still vibrating from the strumming orplucking thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A combined bridge, tailpiece and vibrato for guitars comprising amounting base section, a bridge section integrally connected to saidbase section and rising upwardly therefrom, a tailpiece integrallyconnected to said bridge section, said tailpiece having means thereonfor engaging string ends, said tailpiece extending freely from saidbridge section in cantilever fashion, and a vibrato bar connected tosaid tailpiece for manual actuation thereof to produce vibrato.

2. A device according to claim 1 and wherein said base section, bridgesection and tailpiece are all formed from resilient steel so as to bebendable by the action of said vibrato bar.

3. A device according to claim 2 and wherein said vibrato bar issubstantially S-shaped with one end thereof connected to the free end ofsaid tailpiece and laterally disposed thereon adjacent a side of saidtailpiece so as to be adjacent to the higher frequency strings.

2,741,146 4/1956 Fender 84-313 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.L. R. FRANKLIN, Assistant Examiner.

